Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a display device.
Discussion of the Related Art
In response to the development of the information society, there has been increasing demand for various types of display devices for displaying images. Recently, a range of display devices, such as liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, plasma display panels (PDPs), and organic light-emitting display devices, have come into widespread use.
Such display devices include a display panel in which data lines and gate lines are disposed and subpixels are defined in areas in which the data lines intersect the gate lines. The display device also includes a data driver supplying data voltages to the data lines, a gate driver driving the gate lines, a controller controlling the driving timing of the data driver and the gate driver, and the like.
A related art gate driver includes separate gate driver integrated circuits (GDICs) respectively having a shift register of the gate driver disposed therein and connecting the GDICs to gate line pads of the display panel using a tape carrier package (TCP) process or the like.
However, recently, gate-in-panel (GIP) technology, for directly providing a shift register of the gate driver on the display panel, has been applied.
According to GIP technology, GIP circuits respectively including thin-film transistors (TFTs) are provided on the display panel, and a plurality of signal lines are disposed on the GIP circuits on the display panel. The signal lines may be formed on a substrate, simultaneously with the gate lines, or simultaneously with the data lines. In addition, the signal lines may be disposed to provide signals to the GIP circuits or to monitor signals output by the GIP circuits.
However, if two or more gate drivers having the GIP structure are disposed on the display panel, when different numbers of signal lines are disposed in the gate driver areas, different amounts of capacitance may be created between the gate drivers, thereby degrading image quality.
In addition, with rounded display panels as currently fabricated, signal lines disposed in the pad areas of the display panel are imparted with a stepped shape to have a rounded structure. However, the stepped shape of the signal lines may increase the distance of the signal lines to the GIP circuits of the gate driver, which have been disposed close thereto, thereby causing transistors of the GIP circuits to deteriorate.